BUYING A BACKGAMMON BOARD

IT MAY SEEM LIKE AN EASY THING...

..But if you are like me and you want things to be in a special way, then there's a million things to decide on..

Colors, obviously.. Is it possible to get the board in your choice of colors ? Case, Surface, Pips, Checkers etc.

Checkers.. Size ? Tournament size is either 45mm or 50mm but there are many different materials, thickness etc. Do you want them flat or with a "dimple" in them ? Light or heavy ? Marbles or single colored ?

Surface could be synthetic fiber, textile, felt, or leather. The wooden boards may seem nice but are not available in tournament size and usualy not supplied with shakers, larger checkers, cube or precision dice.

Will you be travelling with your board ? How heavy is it, how sturdy is the design and the material ?

Below I give some advice and link to some manufacturors but these are in no way the only ones available and my taste is bound to be different from yours so go ahead and make your decision based on your own knowledge and tastes.

869 BG (Turkey)

Handmade in Turkey, these boards are fabulous value for the money. The surface, a flocked fiber material, is super smooth, well "balanced" bounce of the dice and since the pips are printed there is no edges or linings in the playfield.

The surface is also very easy to clean, shoud it be stained

ANY choice of colors and design makes the design unique and "one of a kind", if you wish. Checkers are 45mm and in my opinion a bit light and the dice are not precision dice but that can be bought seperatly ofcourse.

Price range is around 500€ and I recommend buying thru the link below, thru the UK.

Check out my gallery of 869BG Boards and some pictures from the workshop in Istanbul HERE

FTH Backgammon (Germany)

German handicraft, available in many different sizes, colors and designs. The 50mm checkers is a marvel to play with, smooth, perfect weight and slides amazingly over the felt surface. The pips are sewed in. I opted for the oval shakers but round are available as well.

Precision dice and cubes are also available in several different colors and sizes.

In my board (pictured) I also opted for the corner pockets for the cube, as to not block the checkers when bearing off.

Communications with FTH Backgammon is fast and flawless and they are very willing to listen to all your adaption needs.

GEOFFREY PARKER (UK)

The legendary boards from Geoffrey Parker, the board you can either spend half a fortune for or just go and win the World Championship or the Nordic Open, some of the tournaments sponsered by Geoffrey Parker

This is, in my opinion, as good as it gets and I can't recommend it enough, even though it IS a big bunch of cash to put up... Start saving and decide on your colors, this is the board you want to have...